Gordon Smith
by The-Great-Ranger
Summary: The Reaper war ended four years ago. With most governments still trying to clean up the mess, the mercenary business is booming. The career pays well, and Gordon desperately needs the credits.
1. Chapter 1

_Joughin, Benning_

Gordon Smith took a breath, remembered that no matter how terrible his sins were it was for the best cause. The only cause left in the universe for him, not that it mattered to anyone. He unpacked his sniper rifle, and attached the silencer. From the rooftop he took aim at the Turian politician far below. The Turian had just left the bank and appeared to be alone at first. Finger on the trigger, Gordon suddenly stopped. The guy's kid was with him. Once again Gordon remembered why he was doing this. He took the shot. Gordon packed up and left quickly, but his concern was not the authorities, he did not want to hear the screaming of the kid.

_Tullos, Benning_

Gordon walked into the designated bar and was waved over by his contact in the dark corner of the bar. Cautiously, Gordon approached the table.

"Good work. Here are the 8,000 credits plus another 1,000 for how quick you completed the job," the man paused for a moment, "You do fine work, perhaps I can interest you in taking another job from Cerberus?"

"No," Gordon stopped to make sure all the credits were there, "I have a policy of not working too long for any employer," without a second thought Gordon stood up and left. He had a freighter to catch at Tullos's port.

_Tullos' Port, Benning_

When Gordon arrived he noticed the freighter would be leaving soon. Taking care of avoiding security so his disassembled sniper rifle in his brief case was not found, he made his way over to the nearest terminal. Taking a deep breath, he thought of what he ought to write.

_Hey Anna,_

_ This message has to be short since I am in a hurry, I would had written a longer one if I had the time. With this message are more credits for your tuition, I hope you are doing well._

_Love,_

_ Your brother._


	2. Chapter 2

_The Dark Star Lounge, Citadel_

Gordon never had to worry about finding work. With his reputation of being effective and fast with the job, there was always a number of clients wishing to hire him. All he had to do was sit back and drink while he waited for a client to come to him. That was the best part of the job.

"Are, eh, you Gordon?" a nervous Salarian asked as he approached the table. It was obvious this was the Salarian's first time hiring a merc and had not the faintest idea what he was doing.

"Calm down…" Gordon looked up from the Mantis he was repairing, "…and take a seat."

"Sorry. I am rather new at…umm… this "activity". But I do have the credits!"

"Just tell me what I need to know."

"Well my name is Folon, my salarian coworker from Binary Helix wants me killed for…reasons I can not disclose. His name is Paerirn Roan. You need to kill him before he reaches Noveria and informs the Executive Board about me. He will be taking the freighter Aenok. You will need to hurry, he is leaving tonight."

"The payment?"

"I will meet you here after you take care of him. I will pay you 5,000 credits."

"I will get the job done. By the way, do not be that idiot who tries to get out of paying his first merc."

_The Aenok_

Gordon stole a glance around the corner, at the end of the hall way stood two mercenaries. One krogan, one human, just as the bribed worker had said there would be. Whatever he did, it had to be quick and silent. Both of those goals were near impossible now that a krogan was in the equation. Just as he was in the process of thinking of how to achieve such a feat, fortune seemed to smile upon him.

"Hey," the krogan turned to its partner, "Runt watch the door while I take a leak. You screw up, I tear your arms off."

Hearing the krogan walking down the hall way, Gordon threw himself into the nearest room. Gordon quickly attached a silencer to his executioner pistol. Opening the door a crack, he made sure the krogan was gone. Glancing around the corner to check if the human was still there, he then turned and rushed the guard. Set off by the random charge, the man could not bring up his gun before his head was smeared across the wall by the executioner.

Gordon took cover by the side of the doorway, then hit the button that opened the door. Before the salarian could react, he stormed the room and fulfilled his side of the contract. Turning around to make a quick escape, Gordon and the krogan saw each other at the same time as the krogan turned the corner. Gordon quickly flipped the salarian's desk over as the krogan began to charge. The first shotgun blast tore through the desk but stopped it enough so it only took down Gordon's shields. Gordon quickly hit the shotgun with his executioner, and he could hear as the shot not only went through the shotgun but the arm holding the shotgun. Yelling in pain the krogan threw the remains of the desk across the room.

Gordon rolled as the krogan charged, but could not avoid getting hit on the side as he did so. He unloaded another shot point blank on the krogan. Still, with what energy the beast had left, charged again and the force threw Gordon into the wall. Hanging onto his pistol for dear life, he shot the krogan one last time with the executioner. The beast fell to the floor surrendering to death. Gordon, taking a moment, slowly stood up as he held his side.

"Now…" Gordon paused for a moment to lean against the wall for support, "…where is my medi-gel?"

_The Dark Star Lounge, Citadel_

Tapping his fingers impatiently on the table, Gordon drained the last of his drink as he waited for Folon. Taking another look at the entrance, Gordon was glad when he saw the salarian enter the lounge.

"Nice work," Folon took the seat across from Gordon, "Here are the credits I promised."

"Wait…" Gordon took a look at the credit chip, "…there is 1,000 less here then we agreed upon. Want to explain?"

"I swear I will have the rest next week!" the salarian looked like he would die of fright, "I just ran out money!"

"Hmm… How about instead I keep those credits, and since you work at Binary Helix you provide me with a new set of armor, maybe a prototype. My last set was scratched up bad on this job."

"What happened?

"One word: Krogan."

"Oh…well I guess I could do that. I could get you the newest guardian armor, it will not be available for sale to the public for a few months."

"Good, see if you can get it jet black. By the way, keep in mind if you try to set me up with a defective set of armor, I will kill you."


	3. Chapter 3

_Factory District, Citadel_

Gordon read over the datapad one more time. His client would be meeting his target, Elias Kelham, for what would appear to be a routine weapons deal. As soon as he had a clear shot on Elias, Gordon would take it and help finish off the rest of guy's entourage. Easy credits. Gordon put on his ear piece in case his client gave an order, and attached a silencer to his mantis. The deal would start soon.

Gordon's client was the first to arrive with around ten of his henchmen and a few skycars. Gordon reported that he was in position, then took note of the henchmen's positions. Soon another skycar arrived. His client reported that the men in the car worked for Kelham, and that Kelham would be arriving shortly.

Suddenly, his ear piece exploded with static. As quickly as it began it stopped. Assuming it was just some technical issue, he was surprised when a voice other than his client spoke to him.

"Listen kid, I know your reputation and whatever she is paying you I will double it. Besides I will no doubt have plenty of jobs for you in the future. What do you say?"

"It is an interesting offer…" Gordon paused for a moment to think, either way he did not care which group took control, one gang was as good as another and in the end all that mattered to him were the credits for his sister, "…I accept."

"Smart choice, when I arrive take her out as soon as you have the shot. Then finish the others."

Luckily the meeting was taking place outside, the only real cover were the skycars. He would have to watch out in case someone made a run for the door to the nearby warehouse though. There were no krogan, and that always made the job of a sniper easier. Only turians, humans, and salarians. Before too long Elias Kelham's skycar arrived, stepping out of the vehicle he looked in the direction of Gordon as if he knew exactly where he was and giving him the signal to shoot.

One shot, one perfect hit straight through her skull. He dropped another two before anyone realized what happened. With her thugs caught off guard, it was a massacre as Kelham's men opened fire. Spotting a human making a run for the door, Gordon put an end to his running with one shot. A turian pulled out a grenade launcher and hit one of Kelham's skycars which knocked quite a few of his men off their feet. Gordon neutralized the threat, then took out a salarian who ran for the dropped weapon. And as quick as that it was over, all of his former client's thugs were dead. Soon Elias Kelham's voice came back through his ear piece.

"Nice shooting. I will have one of my agents meet you at the Dark Star Lounge with the credits."

_The Dark Star Lounge, Citadel _

Gordon was enjoying himself watching a drunken brawl between two turians when an asari sat down across from him.

"Gordon Smith?"

"Yes," Gordon turned from the brawl to face the asari, "I take it you want to hire me?"

"First, I am to inform you that all the credits from Mr. Kelham have been put in your account…" the asari paused a moment as she pulled out a datapad, "…and second to give you this. You made a good impression on Mr. Kelham and he would like to hire you again. All the details are on the datapad."

Before he could say anything, the asari stood up and left. The datapad had been left on the table. Overwhelmed with curiosity, Gordon picked it up.


	4. Chapter 4

_The Dark Star Lounge, Citadel_

The asari had left the datapad on the table. Overwhelmed with curiosity, Gordon picked it up.

_Target: Barek Proros_

_Race: Batarian (picture below)_

_Location: City Jalnor, Planet Lorek, System Fathar, Omega Nebula_

_Mr. Proros is captain of a slave ship, and has caused complications for my trade cliental. He currently is staying at the hotel "Rekos". According to my sources, he will remain in the city for the next week while his crew sells the slaves aboard his vessel. Be alert for we have worked together in the past and he knows I will be sending someone. To accept the job take the public freighter "Dux" tonight which will take you to the planet. 7,000 credits will be sent to your account once this task is complete. One last note, if any of this information is leaked to an outside party, you may suffer a fatal accident._

Gordon took a deep gulp of his drink. Being that this mission would be taking place in not only the Terminus Systems but also on a planet controlled by the Batarian Hegemony, this would be one of his most dangerous missions. Luckily this was one of the few planets under control of the Hegemony that had a diverse population and did not shoot humans on sight. If they did shoot, well he had guardian armor and an executioner. Setting down the datapad, he walked over to the bartender. Gordon would need a few more drinks of the hard stuff before he left for Lorek.

_Jalnor, Lorek_

One of the first things Gordon noticed upon setting foot on Jalnor, was that the place had more asari and humans then batarians, which made his job easier than previously thought. It was also nice to not be immediately shot at. Before Gordon traveled the city; he bought an old, beat up skycar to keep him from standing out. Following the road signs to Rekos Hotel, he was surprised when it turned out Rekos was quite the upscale hotel in the wealthier part of town. Well upscale for a hotel in the Terminus Systems. Parking his skycar on one of the side streets, Gordon cautiously approached the hotel. The hotel and surrounding buildings were six or seven stories high, and there was easily enough foot traffic to get lost in. As he scouted the streets, Gordon turned his gaze to the rooftops. He could make out figures on each of the surrounding buildings, had to be snipers. That would cause complications.

Entering a dinner that was across from the ground floor of the hotel, Gordon sat at one of the tables with a window facing the hotel as he ate. It was not long until he saw his target. Barek had an asari on either side of him as he entered the hotel with a fairly large entourage. Knowing anyone worth this much protection would demand a room on the top floor, Gordon made his way to the higher floors. Noticing it was becoming dark, he might even have a chance to check out the snipers without getting caught.

Looking out of a window on the top floor of the building, it appeared Barek did not have a room on the north side of the hotel. Moving to another building east of the hotel, Gordon had no luck again. Then while looking from the west building, Gordon saw him. Luck was on Gordon's side, Bray had one of the rooms on the edge of the building with a glass wall. In fact, looking through his Manti's scope, the room had a small pool, maybe a hot tub. Gordon could see Barek with the two asari passed out in the hot tub with several empty bottles around. If Barek was unconscious Gordon could break through the window then snipe him before Barek knew what was happening. Still there were a few problems to investigate before Gordon took action.

What to do with the rooftop snipers? If Gordon brook the window on this floor, the snipers directly above him would be reporting it before he could take the shot, not to mention he would have slavers coming at him from all sides. If he took out the snipers above him he might as well take the shoot from there but the slavers would know exactly where he was after he killed Bray, as the snipers on this building would not report in, but if he took out the snipers on several buildings their forces would be split up and weaker. After a few moments of devising various ways to accomplish his job and survive, Gordon decided on a plan. The night he would kill Barek would have to be a night when he was unconscious in the hot tub. Gordon would proceed to silently take out the snipers above him and on the buildings next to him, then snipe Barek. Gordon would make a quick exit with his skycar, previously parked on one of the side streets behind the building.

The last step to take before he could put his plan in motion was to learn the guard shifts. The worst case scenario was for the new shift of guards to arrive before he took the shoot. Avoiding the elevator, Gordon stealthily advanced up the final set of stairs to the roof. Upon reaching the roof, taking advantage of the recent construction activity, Gordon hide himself behind one of the many stacks of materials. Soon at midnight new guards arrived via elevator, then again at two and once more at four. Shortly past four in the morning, Gordon spotted Barek waking up. Confident the best time to strike would be after the guards changed at two in the morning, Gordon made his way back to his skycar for some well-deserved shut eye. After all, he would need to be fully awake and alert to take out Barek and survive the next night.


	5. Chapter 5

It was time. After making final adjustments to his armor and attaching silencers to his weapons, Gordon silently exited the skycar. It was just pass two in the morning, the guards would had just changed shifts. Now was the time to strike. With his jet black Guardian armor, Gordon was easily able to avoid detection. Not that someone would look twice if they saw a man in a full suit of armor, this was the Terminus Systems after all. Gordon quietly entered through the back door. He proceeded to the roof cautiously.

Upon reaching the roof, Gordon analyzed the situation. As expected Barek was out cold in his hot tub with the lights on. On the roof were two guards, both batarian. Both had snipers, it was unclear if they had side arms. One was facing the hotel while the other sat several meters away on the ground propped up against a pile of construction materials. He appeared to be sleeping. As Gordon came up behind him, he pulled out his executioner. He pulled the trigger when it was up against the batarian's temple. Not wasting time, Gordon approached the surviving guard. Swiftly he snapped the batarian's neck. Inwardly Gordon was glad he had rid the galaxy of two slavers, the scum were a menace to everyone. Pleased with himself, Gordon promptly put away his pistol and took out his sniper.

Gordon aimed at the guards on the roof right of him. Two batarians talking to each other, they were close to the center of the roof. The first shot tore cleanly through one batarian's head, and before the second could react the same happened to him. Gordon then turned his attention to the roof left of him. One krogan and one batarian, both facing the hotel. This was a challenge. Not only did he have to take them out before they called for reinforcements but luck needed to be with him so their bodies did not fall down to the streets below.

Taking aim at the batarian, Gordon shot. It was a perfect headshot, and the body fell backwards. Acting swiftly Gordon took aim at the krogan. Like before, Gordon was rewarded with a perfect headshot. However luck was not on his side, as the body fell off the roof and plummeted to the streets below. It would only be moments before everyone was alerted. Gordon turned his sights to the hotel room. His first shoot broke the glass, which immediately caused the slaver to wake. Barek drunkenly stumbled towards the door in hopes of escape, but Gordon's second shot denied him that. Gordon quickly put away his Mantis and drew his executioner. Knowing the elevator would be suicide since slavers would be waiting on the other end, he took the stairs.  
Reaching the second floor, Gordon turned to proceed down the next flight of stairs when he and a group of batarians ran straight into one another. Gordon unloaded his executioner into the first one whose body fell onto the other batarians knocking several down the stairs. The one batarian not knocked over by his fallen comrade brought his shotgun up but before he could shoot Gordon knocked it out of his hand. Before Gordon could do anything else, the batarian charged and tackled him. As both fought to gain the upper hand Gordon was able to grab his fallen pistol on the floor next to him, smashing it on the batarian's head. Reloading his gun, Gordon shot the first batarian trying to make its way up the stairs. Looking for an escape, Gordon spotted one. A window on the far end of the hallway leading to the fire escape. He sprinted for the window while breaking the glass with a shot from his pistol. Quickly he leaped through the window. Before making his way down the ladder, Gordon fired another shot down the hallway. After he reached the ground, Gordon lost his pursuers as he made his way through the alley ways and backstreets of Jalnor.

_Dux_

Gordon sat inspecting his executioner in his private room on the freighter "Dux". After smashing it against a batarian's skull he would not be surprised if something was wrong with the gun, or at the very least he wanted to clean off the dried blood. As he worked, Gordon's mind rested on his sister. She was already sixteen and he had spent nearly all his credits making sure she was cared for, yet it felt like he had not done enough. His trance was broken as he heard a high pitched scream. Gordon approached his cabin's door as he loaded his pistol. Opening the door, Gordon leaned out of his room as he looked down the hall way. Batarians had broken into several rooms at the other end of the long corridor and Gordon only had a few minutes until they reach him.


	6. Chapter 6

Gordon quickly strapped on his armor, loaded his executioner and grabbed several thermal clips to take with him. Opening the door, he shot the nearest batarian and then took cover by his doorway. Shoving the next thermal clip in, Gordon hit a batarian trying to advance. Still, Gordon was outnumbered five to one. His prays were answered when he spotted a flame extinguisher across from his door. Breaking cover, Gordon unloaded another clip as he grabbed the extinguisher. Gordon's shields, overpowered by the enemy fire shattered, leaving him with a severe disadvantage. Hurriedly Gordon rolled back to his doorway with the extinguisher, but not before several shots hit his armor. Suppressing Gordon, the remaining four batarians advanced unaware of Gordon's plan. With his shields recharged, Gordon threw the fire extinguisher and shot it while it was in flight, blinding the batarians. One of the blinded batarians accidentally shot his comrade as Gordon took out the other two. Before the last batarian could shoot again, Gordon blasted him between his four eyes.

After checking each one to make sure they were dead, Gordon could not force himself to leave until he check the rooms the batarians broke into for survivors. The first room he checked had a dead hanar in it, the second had a dead volus and the third had a dead human couple. Opening the last door, Gordon was greeted with a familiar face.

"Folon?"

"Mr. Smith? Are you with the batarinas, did you come back to finish the job?"

"No, the batarians are trying to kill me. Probably because I killed their leader."

"That is a relief. You know when they shot me in the leg they told me I was only kept alive so they could "play" with me later?"

Taking pity on the man I applied one of my medi-gels to his wound.

"Are you going to use one of those on yourself?"

"Hmm?" glancing down I saw that a shot had pierced my armor, hitting me slightly to the side and below my ribcage. There was a trail of my blood behind me. Before I could lose anymore I applied medi-gel to the wound, "Well it seems adrenaline works wonders. Can you walk on your leg?"

"Not without assistance. Say if you can get me to the controls, I could fly this out of here. Assuming nothing is damaged of course, but I did not even hear them board the ship so it must had been an inside job or something which means this frigate is still flyable."

"I'll get you there. Let's move out now before their reinforcements get here."

…

Moving with as much speed as they could muster, Gordon and Folon were already far from the dead group of batarians by the time they heard the squad of reinforcing slavers approaching. They remained undetected as they hid in one of the side rooms. Based on the corpses they saw in every room it was clear that the slavers had already searched every room on the ship so the approaching squad of slavers did not think twice when they walked past a closed door.

"Which door do we take? Should we keep going straight or take the right door Gordon?"

"On small freighters like these that front door should take us to the cargo area which connects to a small hallway that is linked directly to the control room. The right door leads to where ships can dock, which must be where the slavers are coming from and there has to be a few guards so unless we want to be caught the door should remain closed."

"How do you know?"

"I am a mercenary remember, given how many jobs occur on frigates I have to know the layout for the generic designs. Let's get moving before those slavers get back."

Opening the door to the storage room, they silently made their way around the side of the large room until they reached the door. As the door opened Gordon smashed his pistol against the skull of a batarian before the slaver could react. Gordon and Folon then took positions on either side of the door to the control room.

"Folon, you do know how to shoot that pistol you picked up from the slaver right?."

"Somewhat."

"Good enough, I get the right side you get left."

As the door slid open Gordon hit one of the two batarians point blank and as the other one turned to shoot him Folon's blast hit him dead in the chest. As Folon sat down at the pilot's seat I sealed the door behind us.

"Folon you need to open every airlock and every door besides the door we just came in through. I want all those slavers spaced."

"Wait just a moment, what if there are survivors?"

"They are not hear to take slaves, otherwise we would not had seen so many corpses, they came here to draw blood. We are the only ones left. Now get us out of here before they realize we're here."

"…Any destination in particular you want to go to? The mass relay is not that far off so I will need to know our destination before we take off."

"You choose."

"Very well…"

With a sigh Folon activated the commands to open the hatches and airlocks. Within a moment the freighter surged towards the near mass relay, leaving the slaver vessel in the dust.


End file.
